"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist."

So argued the novelist Salman Rushdie at the height of the controversy over his book, the Satanic Verses. And – as I have admitted previously on Cif – I think he was right.

Well, how strong our own commitment to freedom of expression is will shortly be put to an interesting test. Almost five years after they announced their disbandment, the controversial publicity-seeking – and frankly loathsome — Muslim group, al-Muhajiroun, have announced that they are to be relaunched.

In the years between 1996 and 2004, under the leadership of Omar Bakri Mohammed, the repulsive antics of al-Muhajiroun featured regularly on the front pages of our tabloids. Whether it was holding up placards proclaiming that the flag of Islam would one day be flying above 10 Downing Street or organising a meeting to celebrate the achievements of the "Magnificent 19" hijackers behind the 9/11 atrocities, it seemed that the small band of Muhajiroun supporters lived for the limelight and revelled in their notoriety and being openly provocative.

The group was disbanded by Bakri in 2004 and soon after Bakri himself left the UK and moved to Lebanon where he still resides. As for the Muhajiroun remnants, they formed new off-shoots including the Saviour Sect and al-Ghurabaa. In 2005, following the 7/7 bombings, the government announced the banning of al-Muhajiroun and its offshoots.

As if to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the new legislation, the very same activists behind al-Muhajiroun and its offshoots promptly resurfaced under different identities and went back to their speciality: getting people's backs up and generally doing their damnedest to poison relations between Muslims and the rest of society.

In my experience, the overwhelming majority of UK Muslims are deeply embarrassed and ashamed of the Muhajiroun followers who invariably tended to be unemployed layabouts and local bullies. If the Muhajiroun followers had not been Muslims, they would almost certainly have been football hooligans. But holding up offensive placards and organising meetings with inflammatory titles is not exactly against the law.

A couple of months back I wrote about how the followers of al-Muhajiroun had succeeded in their polarising antics once again with their now infamous little protest in Luton at the welcoming home parade of soldiers from the East Anglian Regiment. The incident generated a colossal amount of national media coverage which seemed bizarre and quite out of proportion when you think that less than 20 Muhajiroun supporters were actually involved – and this in a town with over 25,000 Muslims. Not long after that an Islamic Centre in Luton was firebombed after they began receiving a series of ugly threatening messages of the "how dare you insult our troops – you will pay for this" variety.

I interviewed Farasat Latif from the Islamic Centre in Luton while researching a Cif piece about the incident and he was understandably upset and angry, not just with whoever had carried out the arson attack but also with the actions of the Muhajiroun supporters, which he believed had contributed to considerably worsening the climate for Muslims in Luton and had been a gift for the likes of the far right.

Since then we have witnessed a "March for England" organised in Luton ostensibly in support of the East Anglian Regiment but which quickly descended into rioting and cases of assault on Muslim individuals and businesses.

So it was not altogether surprising to read reports over the weekend that worshipers from the Islamic Centre in Luton had taken direct action themselves to prevent the Muhajiroun supporters from holding their regular stall in Luton's Bury Park area (known locally as Curry Park) and inciting further trouble. The Daily Mail and the Sun both provided supportive coverage, which is just a bit nauseating given the enormous amount of free publicity both papers have given to al-Muhajiroun over the years.

The response of the worshippers from the Islamic Centre is surely understandable given the circumstances, but did they do the right thing in taking matters into their own hands and forcing al-Muhajiroun off the streets? On the one hand, I ardently wish that the al-Muhajiroun lot would just stop stirring up mischief and generally being such morons. However, it is surely a matter for the police to decide whether the activities of al-Muhajiroun are lawful or not and to take action accordingly.

Is it not more in keeping with our ideals to allow al-Muhajiroun to give vent to their odious views and expose their ideas to the ridicule they deserve? The only people who should be taking the Muhajiroun activists seriously are the police and the security services who should be ready to haul them before the courts if they cross the line from simply voicing offensive opinion to actually inciting violence and race hatred. A number of Muhajiroun supporters have indeed now been successfully prosecuted in recent years.

That seems to be a more prudent approach to dealing with them than declaring futile bans on organisations or encouraging a kind of vigilantism to deal with those whose views and opinions we find thoroughly distasteful.